Last time I wrote about adult education and opportunities in Afghanistan in a broad way. This time I want to say a few things about what’s being done today to educate Afghanistan’s adults, with some reference to women in particular. The point is to indicate where opportunities might exist for enterprising non-profits, and businesses of course.

There are a number of players in the adult literacy field in Afghanistan. The Afghan Ministry of Education is one of them. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) either has run or is running a number of adult literacy programs, including the following:

1. Business development services

2. Training and materials for women who want to work at home

3. Training for farmers on how to improve quality and productivity

4. Teacher training

5. Education in how to grow different crops

Adult literacy centers have been popping up all across the country. There are now centers in 20 provinces. The number of learning centers has grown from 1,100 a few years ago to over 6,800 today.

Now, that list of USAID programs offers some ideas of where to look for opportunities. What areas are not well served by organization’s offering farmer training or business development services? Are there opportunities in those locations for Afghan entrepreneurs or even for foreign corporations? I think most of rural Afghanistan is still too dangerous for most foreign investors’ tastes. However, the provincial capitals should still offer legitimate opportunities.

The current state of adult education in Afghanistan raises some marketing questions. How many adults are not within 10 miles of one of those adult literacy centers? How many teachers, would-be teachers, and entrepreneurial farmers are waiting for training? How could that training be best delivered to them? Would a business or a small and nimble NGO be able to fill in one of those gaps in at least one location? Yes of course.

The means of delivering adult education as a business or as a social venture can be changed too. Having a physical classroom is obviously going to be required in many cases. The nation’s infrastructure simply will not support online learning nationwide. However, in areas with Internet connections and reliable electricity supplies, online learning options exist. Training for a teaching certificate could be done online. Information and lessons relevant to public health and entrepreneurship could be distributed online.

Mobile applications may have some educational value, though I don’t think there are many smart phones in Afghanistan yet. Maybe that’s not true. Maybe market penetration is enough in certain segments of the population for mobile apps to have some value anyway.

To learn more about education and economic development in Afghanistan, check out my Web channel for other blog posts and videos.